Boris Johnson is living rent-free in a £20m property on one of the UK's most expensive streets. The former Prime Minister's London home is owned by the wife of a fellow Tory whose family and businesses have donated almost £10m to the Conservative party.
According to the Mirror, the townhouse is located in the Knightsbridge area on a street that is regularly described as one of Britain's most expensive - and is just a stone's throw away from Harrods. A nearby property is available to rent for £30,000 a month - more than the annual starting wage of a NHS nurse.
However, Mr Johnson told House of Commons officials that he estimates his current residence to be worth £10,000 a month. He was invited to stay in the property by Lady Carole Bamford, the wife of JCB founder and billionaire Lord Bamford.
According to the Mirror, Mr Johnson could face a complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over whether he has fully declared the true value of the gift. The Bamfords have also loaned the former Tory leader use of a cottage on their 1,500-acre Daylesford Estate in the Cotswolds, which he estimated to be worth £3,500 a month.
It is understood Mr Johnson took up the Bramford's invite, despite making £1m from just four speeches in six weeks since leaving Downing Street. According to his register of interests, Johnson partly or fully owns three properties in London, Oxfordshire and Somerset, which are rented out. However, one has been recently sold for £1.4m, earning him a profit of £200,000.
A spokesman for Mr Johnson said: “All of Boris Johnston’s interests including accommodation are properly registered and published in the Register of Members Interests.”
Sonia Purnell, author of Johnson biography Just Boris, said: “As long as I have known him, Johnson has refused to dip into his own pockets, preferring instead to live off other people’s largesse. The problem with this though is how can he remain an independent free-thinking MP when he is so indebted to other people? Is this appropriate?
“I’m not sure his constituents would be happy with this arrangement. He is still the MP for Uxbridge after all.”
Pictures shared by the Mirror show Mr Johnson leaving a property in Knightsbridge which is owned by Carole Bamford, wife of JCB boss Lord Bamford.. It is located in one of the most sought-after areas of west London near the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Mr Johnson’s register of interests records show that he accepted the gift from Lady Carole Bamford of “concessionary use of accommodation for me and my family” since September 2, valued at £10,000 a month. Mr Johnson was forced out of Number 10 just days later on September 6.
His register of interests also shows that he has accepted an invite to use other accommodation owned by the Bamfords for “use of another property for accommodation for me and my family” since September 16, worth £3,500 a month. The Bamfords contributed £23,853 towards Mr Johnson and his partner Carrie's wedding day in July, donating the hire of a Marquee, portaloos, food and waiting staff, an ice cream van and a visit from caterers “Smoke and Braai”, whose specialise in South African outdoor grilling.
Mr Johnson’s diverse property portfolio includes a fifth of a home in Somerset, which he failed to declare within the required 28 days, led to the Commons standards committee saying he had “an over-casual attitude towards obeying the rules of the house”. Since taking up residence in the Bamford’s houses in September, Boris and Carrie have sold their property in Camberwell for £1.4m in November. The couple purchased the property back in 2019 for £1.2m, earning them a £200,000 profit.
Last year, Mr Johnson advertised his farmhouse in Thame, Oxfordshire, for rent of £4,250 a month. He bought it with his second wife Marina Wheeler for £690,000 in 2003, with the property now estimated to be worth £1.2m.
He continues to receive his MP wage of £84,144 a year and is entitled to an £18,860 severance payment after being to step down as Prime Minister.
Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said Johnson had questions to answer over his 'murky financial affairs'.
She said: “Despite raking in hundreds of thousands since being forced out of Downing Street, Boris Johnson is sponging off billionaire Tory donors and squatting in a millionaire’s row mansion as he shamelessly plots his comeback.
"The disgraced former Prime Minister is up to his old tricks once again and has questions to answer over whether he has properly declared his murky financial affairs.”
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said: "The Standards Commissioner should look into this right away.
"Boris Johnson cannot be trusted to tell the truth. After all the times he has lied to the British public, why should we trust a single word he says, let alone the finances he declares? It is only right and proper this is investigated by the appropriate authorities."
Mr Johnson wrote in the Spectator magazine about an “unexpected hiatus” in his career, which he has spent giving a string of speeches - earning him £30,000 an hour. Mr Johnson has recorded that he earned more than £1m giving speeches in just six weeks since leaving Number 10.
He received £276,130 for a speech in New York to the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers on October 14 and then a further £277,723.89 by Centerview Partners LLP to deliver a second speech in the city on November 9.
On November 17, he was paid £261,652.34 by the Hindustan Times for a speech in Delhi. Six days later, Televisao Independente paid him £215,275.98 for a speech at the CNN Global Summit in Lisbon, Portugal.
Johnson controversially accepted a £15,000 free holiday to the Caribbean while Prime Minister in 2019 from Tory donor David Ross.
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